The owner with reason to be nervous about Ayr's Monday card
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A quiet Monday's racing, is it? So it might seem to the casual observer. But there's a real sense of occasion for Dr Jim Walker, who will be at Ayr today to see Individualism make his racecourse debut in the opening novice contest.
Of course, it would be fairly common for owners to get anxious about the debut of expensively purchased horseflesh. Individualism is certainly that, having cost 110,000gns at Book 1 in October.
But there's a bit more emotional depth involved here. The two-year-old is a half-brother to Subjectivist, easily the best horse Walker has so far owned and the winner of the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 2021.
"I owned a half-sister as well, Alba Rose," Walker says, reminding me of a horse who was third in the Rockfel in 2020. "So I like the family a lot."
The one Walker missed was another half-brother, Sir Ron Priestley, who was owned by Paul Dean but was also, like Subjectivist and Alba Rose, trained by Mark and Charlie Johnston. You might recall Sir Ron Priestley beating Pyledriver in the Jockey Club Stakes a couple of years ago. Their dam, Reckoning, clearly gets brave and talented offspring.
So here comes the latest of them. Individualism is from the first crop of Too Darn Hot, who you'd hope would impart an element of pace and precocity. Then again, Subjectivist was by Teofilo, another top-class juvenile.
Walker says: "He's an exciting prospect, Charlie quite likes him. I think he's been working quite well at home, as did his brother."
Individualism holds an entry in the National Stakes at the Curragh in September, which can only be a positive sign. But time and distance have been very helpful for other members of the family and perhaps that will also be true of this fella.
"A funny thing about Subjectivist," Walker muses, "is that he was beat by Juan Elcano in his first run and Mystery Power in his second - and they turned out to be first and second in the Superlative Stakes at the July Meeting. So he did come up against some pretty decent horses.
"It could easily be the same again with Individualism because there's two previous winners in the race, there's a horse who was second on his debut and all of them have run bar him. So it's a big ask, to come out for your first run and win against experienced horses.
"A good run, that would be the real hope. As long as he shows something. Just a nice run would be encouraging."
Trying to get a sense of how much this occasion matters to Walker, I ask if he's a nervous spectator. "Nervous wouldn't be the word for it," he replies, laughing.
"The good thing is, it's the first race, so it's over and done with very quickly. If it was the fourth or fifth race, then I don't even see what's happening beforehand. It's that bad."
It's great that he still cares so much after the accumulated experiences of 20 years as an owner but it might strike some as surprising, if you know about Walker's day job as a high-flying economist. It's not a world I know but I imagine nerves of steel are quite possibly required.
"The thing about being an economist and having to make calls for a living," he says, laughing again, "is that I think at least half the time I know what I'm doing. But when it comes to horse racing, it's all hope. It's completely different. You hope for the best, expecting far too much all the time; it's exhilarating.
"Every one's going to be a world-beater before they reach the track. By this time, I should be an awful lot more circumspect about these things but still you hold out that hope."
After many years based in Hong Kong, Walker is back living in Scotland now. His role still requires plenty of international travel but he's better placed to get to the races and actually see his horses. He'll be at Ayr today and indeed he was planning to be there yesterday to cheer for his Venetian, which he described as a welcome distraction in the build-up to Individualism.
How important is it to him to be present when his horses race? "The truth of the matter is that I would go racing regardless.
"The first time I was at the races was when I was at four at Devon and Exeter, a good place to start. And then the next week was Newton Abbot - we were on holiday in Devon. Most of the time, we came on holiday to Ayr around about July, when there were two to three meetings a week and that was real good stuff at that time."
It was the start of a lifelong enthusiasm. "If there's a race-meeting anywhere close to me, I'll go, regardless of whether I have a runner or not." He was at Musselburgh last Monday night, for example.
We end by discussing Subjectivist, a fine third in the Gold Cup last month, and another reason for Walker's nervous state emerges. It was on this day two years ago that he learned his best horse was suffering a tendon injury and would be sidelined for months.
"It was two and a bit weeks after Royal Ascot and now we're at exactly the same stage. I think we've got a confirmation stage for the Goodwood Cup on Tuesday. So it's fingers crossed that, after his first couple of canters, he's going to be okay and ready to go for that.
"The beauty of Goodwood is that it's only a month on from the Gold Cup. He should be a lot more settled and a different prospect to get past than he was at Ascot, which was his first race for three months."
Monday's picks
It's a battle of the Eds in the Directors Cup at Ripon tonight, the rampant Ed Bethell going there with his Coverdale, unbeaten in three this year. But I prefer the claims of Ed Walker's Merry Minister (7.55) stepping up in distance for this handicap debut.
He took an age to get on top when breaking his duck at Thirsk last time, a 7f race in which he was just getting going as the post came. There's plenty more to come and a quality 1m2f race can help him show it. Tom Marquand is a good booking and they're 7-2.
There's a chance Twilight Girl (4.50) can prove herself well handicapped on a mark of 100 over hurdles at Worcester. Two miles was plainly too sharp for her at Newton Abbot a fortnight ago but this step up to 2m7f should make all the difference and she's having just her second run under rules since joining James Owen from Ireland.
Owen is on a 24 per cent strike-rate in handicap hurdles at this early stage of his career. This mare was able to win over fences from 109 in Ireland in May last year and she won three points for Owen at the start of the year. She appeals at 14-1.
'The forecast rain is ideal for him' - our man provides four plays to kick off the week
Three things to look out for on Monday
1. Ordinarily, there would be some market interest in a hurdling debutant representing the power combination of Henry de Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore but in the case of Finans Bay suspicion is a more likely punter response than enthusiasm. He has talent, having won a 1m2½f handicap at Dundalk off a rating of 87 in October, but he refused to race in the Irish Lincoln and again at the Guineas meeting, which is presumably part of the reason he was switched to jumping. But then he refused to line up at Bellewstown on Saturday under Darragh O'Keeffe. Blackmore, who rode in the next race, was presumably watching from the weighing room. She gets her chance to see if she can make this recalcitrent six-year-old behave himself in a Roscommon maiden hurdle this evening.
2. The hottest yard in the country right now is the East Sussex base of Sheena West. She might be mainly associated with the jumps exploits of Golan Way from a few years back but she's having her best ever Flat season just now, with ten winners so far at a strike-rate of 34 per cent. West has sent out four runners in the past fortnight, Gearing's Point winning twice and Mr Freedom also scoring, while Sly Madam was a close second at 10-1. Tonight, she sends First Quest to Chepstow for a 2m handicap. A nine-year-old but new to the yard, he got tired on heavy ground at Goodwood in May but may be able to do a lot better on this much better surface, from a career-low mark. He was running well over hurdles for Neil Mulholland in the autumn.
3. Alex Dunn makes good use of claiming apprentices, both her Flat winners this year having been ridden by Taylor Fisher, while Tyler Heard and Benoit de la Sayette teamed up successfully with her last year. So Alec Voikhansky is an interesting booking for her Aussie Mystic in the last at Chepstow, Voikhansky being 5/15 in the past fortnight and still able to claim 5lb. The three-year-old was a cheap purchase after achieving little in four starts for Charlie Fellowes but ought to be capable of making his mark at a modest level.
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The Front Runner is our unmissable email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday. Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content.
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